its own steps. we have anything israel does _ its own steps. we have anything israel does is _ its own steps. we have anything israel does is as _ its own steps. we have anything israel does is as limited - its own steps. we have anything israel does is as limited and - its own steps. we have anything israel does is as limited and are | israel does is as limited and are smart and targeted as possible. it is in no one public interest that we see escalation further. translation: we will make — see escalation further. translation: we will make all— see escalation further. translation: we will make all our— see escalation further. translation: we will make all our decisions - see escalation further. translation: we will make all our decisions on - we will make all our decisions on our own— we will make all our decisions on our own and the state of israel will do what _ our own and the state of israel will do what it— our own and the state of israel will do what it needs to do it to defend itself _ do what it needs to do it to defend itself. ., ., ., ., itself. the death toll of the war in ukraine has _ itself. the death toll of the war in ukraine has now _ itself. the death toll of the war in ukraine has now far _ itself. the death toll of the war in ukraine has now far an _ itself. the death toll of the war in ukraine has now far an past - itself. the death toll of the war in . ukraine has now far an past 50,000. we have more inner a bbc investigation the projections for working age people in the uk off working age people in the uk off work due to long—term sickness is set to increase by 700,000 people in the coming years, new research suggests. let's look at the big day business news now. annita mcveigh, thank you very much. we're starting with inflation — the rate at which prices have been rising is something that continues to trouble millions

of people around the world. here in the uk, there's been another fall in the inflation rate, the global picture is somewhat mixed and that's giving central bankers — the people who decide how much it should cost to borrow money — plenty to think about. uk inflation for march has been reported at an annnualised rate of 3.2%. that data coming out earlier today. that's a long way from its recent peak of just over ii%. the latest figures show a fall in the cost of meat and furniture, among other things. but many forecasters had been banking on a more significant drop than this. so where does that leave the bank of england and its 5.25% interest rate? there had been an expectation that the bank's policymakers could reduce the cost of borrowing in may orjune, but many forecasters now think it could be later in the summer. the uk's central bank has a similar dilemma to its us counterpart, where inflation is at 3.5% after last week's unexpected jump. and that stubbornness is why there's

a growing wariness of cutting the cost of borrowing too soon. that was a point that was emphasised by the world's most powerful central banker, the head of the us federal reserve, jerome powell, during a speech in washington. we've said at the fomc that we will need greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably towards 2% before it would be appropriate to ease policy. we took that cautious approach and sought that greater confidence so as not to overreact to the string of low inflation readings that we had in the second half of last year. the recent data have clearly not given us greater confidence and instead indicate that it's likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence. jerome powell there, apologies for some sound issues before we went to him. evelyn herrmann is a european economist at bank of america

in paris and earlier i asked her for her best guess of when the bank of england might cut the cost of borrowing. our bet is that the cutting cycle is actually august now. i have to admit that into this week we thought that there was more of a chance that the bank of england might be confirmed to cut as early as june. if wage data had continued to show further slowdown, if services inflation had moved slower than this, i'd say tentatively, but probably not enough to really get the bank of england to vote on cuts, so we are happy with our base rate of the bank of england starting its cutting cycle in august, as we have thought already for some time, given that domestic inflation has proved to be a lot more sticky here. we had been expecting perhaps the us federal reserve to kind of set the trend worldwide, but given whatjerome powell has been saying, it doesn't appear to be the case. people talk about following the fed. could the fed's delay

have a ripple effect across the world? it can, to a certain extent, but i think every national central bank obviously needs to look at its domestic inflation dynamics and do whatever is the right thing for its economy. from that perspective, we are looking at the federal reserve, and our us colleagues have pushed back their own expectations for the first rate cut to december this year, on the back of last week's report, on the back of the previous tables report, their economy is extremely strong, still, but the recession dynamics are very strong. the latest cuts to the cycle could maybe have... impacts elsewhere to the pace of cuts. inaudible but their central bank is suffering domestically.

you mention the european central bank there. in the eurozone, they were among the latest that are raising rates and it looks like they could be among the first to start cutting them. a big problem in the eurozone has been the lack of consumer spending. do you expect cutting the interest rate could reinvigorate that? well, we would first, a li% interest rate in eu areas is very high. that is not necessarily stimulating the economy, it is more about... ..reducing the degree of tightness that the government currently exposes the economy to, so it will ease somewhat and help return to normal growth rates again in this area, but we are very far away from a place where policy would actually become... stimulated. but from that perspective, it would still, the ecb would cut injune, we have them cutting quarterly, but still in our estimate a i%... range... restrictive territory on... inaudible

0k. now, one thing that can push inflation in the wrong direction is tariffs, the taxing of goods as they cross borders. nonetheless, us presidentjoe biden is considering big increases in tariffs on chinese steel and aluminium. he'll tell an election rally in the swing state of pennsylvania today that imports from china are a threat to both jobs and national security. his likely rival, donald trump, has already pushed the idea of 60% tariffs on chinese imports. michelle fleury is in new york for us. tell us more about what we're expecting to hear from president biden. look, joe biden has made a point of trying to sort of protect and revive american manufacturing and here today we are going to see him trying today we are going to see him trying to increase pressure on chinese steel. he is going to direct his us

trade representative to increase tariffs, tripled them on steel and aluminium imports from china, currently they face a 7.5% tariffs under section 301 of the trade act and now he wants to raise them to 25% and is also going to try and do more to protect shipbuilding from cheap chinese imports. again, this is something that biden has been increasingly concerned with recently. we saw the us treasury state sector a warning she was worried about overcapacity, that china was trying to export its way out of trouble and he is now taking action. from the chinese perspective, no doubt this will of course be seen as another attempt to stifle its rise on the global stage. it is, after all, the world's number two economy. it is, after all, the world's number two economy-— two economy. indeed. so both candidates _ two economy. indeed. so both candidates in _ two economy. indeed. so both candidates in the _ two economy. indeed. so both candidates in the presidential| two economy. indeed. so both l candidates in the presidential us election talking tough on chinese tariffs. we know the american consumers care a lot about inflation, understandable, hard to

know much they understand about the link between tariffs and inflation, but do we think this is going to be a big election issue, china and tariffs? if a big election issue, china and tariffs? , ., . ~' a big election issue, china and tariffs? , ., ., ~ ., a big election issue, china and tariffs? .«r ., a big election issue, china and tariffs? ,, ., ~ ., ., tariffs? if you take a look at ollin: tariffs? if you take a look at polling it — tariffs? if you take a look at polling it shows _ tariffs? if you take a look at polling it shows americans l tariffs? if you take a look at. polling it shows americans feel tariffs? if you take a look at - polling it shows americans feel the us could afford to be tough on china, but i think there is another thing to bear in mind here and that is the blue—collar work that both joe biden and donald trump are trying to court and i think what we are seeing with this rally in pennsylvania, the industrial midwest, biden is determined not to allow former president donald trump to outflank him, who has in the past talked tough on china and after all he was the one who introduced those initial tariffs on steel imports from china and has said he would impose 60% tariffs across the board on chinese imports. sol impose 60% tariffs across the board on chinese imports. so i think this is an attempt to try and counter that, it is a state he considers a second home and he is determined to try and win pennsylvania. fik. try and win pennsylvania. ok. michelle fleury, _ try and win pennsylvania. ok. michelle fleury, stick- try and win pennsylvania. 0k. michelle fleury, stick around because we will bring you in on our next story, staying in the united states, talking about the safety

culture of the troubled plane—maker boeing. it is being scrutinised by two us senate committees today. first up the commerce, science and transpoortation science and tra nspoortation committee has been hearing a panel of experts who found major failings at the embattled company in their report for the us aviation regulator. the second is underway at the moment and in that the senate investigations committee is hearing from the boeing engineer and whistleblower sam salehpour, who claims the company's 787 dreamliners could break apart because of production problems. boeing denies that's the case. the departing ceo of boeing has repeatedly said the company is focused on safety after the two fatal 737 max crashes and an incident injanuary where part of a cabin wall fell off a plane shortly after take—off. let's take a listen to what mr salehpour is telling the hearing. its proven value in airspace industries, it should be made clear this culture concept is not only for

airline operations, but rather, any aerospace operation where risk of injury or death is a possibility to employees in your customer after product delivery. this is extremely important in determining an organisation's overall safety culture, as they all complement each other. to be successful, organisations may not simply choose simply one or two of these components because they are less expensive or more manageable. in addition, in aerospace, not following all for components of the safety culture or just the following all for components of the safety culture orjust the ones that have less impact, thus to appear to regulators or shareholders that they are being responsive, finally, an expeditious, is not acceptable. this type of action will produce a non—viable, misleading and potentially dangerous safety culture that will teeter on failure and providing a false sense of security.

let me be clear. when you try to increase productivity without the needed resources and being guided by a poor management with only financial focus and the lack of assembly—line inspectors, you are always borrowing from safety. you cannot have both. and case in point, this is where we see events like the door blew out with alaska airlines. nasa learned the hard way, many decades ago, and other aerospace organisations have as well. with their new plan to operate, when they decided they were going to operate faster, betterand decided they were going to operate faster, better and cheaper. and it failed horribly. they learned that you can only have two of the three, never all three at the same time or accidents will happen. when we examine these four components of

what constructs a safety culture, it appears that boeing has none of them under control and there is no evidence that this trend is in fact reversing. this was discussed at the huntington beach conference in february 2023, which i attended, but that does not appear to be any evidence of such changes to any of the components on the horizon, as the components on the horizon, as the string of alarming events continue to unfold. in the safety engineering work, we call these precursors to accidents and i have neverin precursors to accidents and i have never in my decades of aerospace safety work, seen so many continuing to arrive one after another. where is the safety accountability? that is the safety accountability? that is sam salehpour, _ is the safety accountability? that is sam salehpour, former boeing engineer and whistle—blower, testifying to senators on capitol hill today, talking about demands for growing productivity of boeing

staff, but without guiding adequate resources for them to do so. let's bring back in michelle fleury, our north america business correspondence. michelle, this spotlight, renewed spotlight on boeing at the beginning ofjanuary when that incident with the alaska airlines flight happened, of course, the 737 max incidents dating back to two fatal plane crash is five years ago. the bad headlinesjust keep on coming for boeing here. how damaging is this new line of them?— is this new line of them? look, i mean, i is this new line of them? look, i mean. lthink— is this new line of them? look, i mean, i think this _ is this new line of them? look, i mean, i think this is _ is this new line of them? look, i mean, i think this is incredibly . mean, i think this is incredibly damaging. the top senator on this panel at the start of the hearing said this was about broken promises when it came to safety and he praised the whistle—blowers who have come forward today, sam salehpour you just mentioned, he actually spoke a short while ago and what we were seeing their in that clip was a doctor who is a professor of

integrated systems engineering at ohio state university, in some way reinforcing the point that sam salehpour made earlier. he was concerned that there was a culture of incentives to try and rush the process through and you are hearing their from process through and you are hearing theirfrom sean kind of reiterating theirfrom sean kind of reiterating the devastating consequences that can have too much haste. i think we are going to hear a lot more of this and as i said senator blumenthal said he intends to call the ceo of boeing to answer questions in a future hearing.— boeing to answer questions in a future hearing. thank you for that, michelle. future hearing. thank you for that, michelle- just _ future hearing. thank you for that, michelle. just time _ future hearing. thank you for that, michelle. just time to _ future hearing. thank you for that, michelle. just time to bring - future hearing. thank you for that, michelle. just time to bring you . michelle. just time to bring you some breaking news before i go. we are hearing from the european data protection board, and are european and eu regulator, that has decided that meta platforms, the company that meta platforms, the company that owns facebook, instagram and whatsapp, should offer its users an option to use their services for

free without targeted advertising. certainly that is something a lot of these big companies have been looking into, this decision affecting notjust matter, but other similar platforms. naturally we'll bring you further update on that as they come to us, that breaking news just reaching us in the last few minutes. that is the business news for now, back to you, annita mcveigh. thank you very much. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

a couple of developments to bring you from the last few minutes. we are hearing from the us that the republican leader of the house of representatives, mikejohnson, has said that a vote will be held on saturday on his proposalfor renewing delayed us military aid to ukraine, as well as for israel. he says, we expect the vote on the final passage of these bills to be on saturday evening. also, on the subject of ukraine, president zelensky has told the boss of nato,

jens stoltenberg, that ukraine needs immediate steps on air defence. if you saw our story a little earlier about the russian missile attack on chernihiv, you will have heard that president zelensky said that would not have happened if ukraine had more air defence systems. so those developing lines from the last few minutes. paedophiles convicted of serious sexual offences could lose their parental rights under a new law. this follows a bbc report into a mother who spent £30,000 in legalfees to stop her paedophile ex—husband getting access to their daughter. after hearing this story, labour mp harriet harman tabled an amendment to the legislation to cover the most serious sexual offence — rape of a child under 13. ms harmanjoins me now. thank you very much for your time, thanks forjoining us on bbc news. i expect for a lot of people it will absolutely beggar belief that was a

loophole in the law which protected children from paedophiles, except for their own children? it children from paedophiles, except for their own children?— for their own children? it was a cularin for their own children? it was a glaring anomaly _ for their own children? it was a glaring anomaly in _ for their own children? it was a glaring anomaly in the - for their own children? it was a glaring anomaly in the law - for their own children? it was a glaring anomaly in the law and | for their own children? it was a l glaring anomaly in the law and it wasn't even a loophole, it was just that when, in the 1990s, restrictions were introduced so that if someone was convicted of a serious sexual offence, they were then put on the sexual offences register, they were there not able to work with children or teach in a school or work in a children's home or do fostering, so all those restrictions were put in to protect children from somebody who had been convicted of a serious sexual offence and yet, his own children were not protected because the idea was that he still had parental rights. so it wasjust left was that he still had parental rights. so it was just left to the mother, if she could, to manage to go to court to protect her child. and what this new change in the law will do is it will say thatjust and what this new change in the law will do is it will say that just as we protect other people's children from serious sexual offenders, his own children must be protected as

well and he must lose his parental rights if he commits a serious sexual offence.— rights if he commits a serious sexual offence. �* , ., ., , sexual offence. and you heard this sto , as sexual offence. and you heard this story. as we _ sexual offence. and you heard this story, as we mentioned _ sexual offence. and you heard this story, as we mentioned in - sexual offence. and you heard this story, as we mentioned in our- story, as we mentioned in our introduction, from our correspond such to berg explaining how this man had to spend £30,000 and her parents in that remortgage the home to raise the money for the legal fees. again, you seem shocking that a parent, a mum should have to go to these lengths to protect her child. it is extraordinary, _ lengths to protect her child. tit 3 extraordinary, what they did, and it cost them a lot of money and took an awful lot of bravery and a long time, but it shouldn't ever be like that. it shouldn't be just down to the mother to protect her children from the father, who is a serious sex offender. it should be the law that actually protects them. so really, this has been a gap in the law and it was exposed by the fact of santa berg, a bbc reporter, going into the family courts because there is now limited opening up of the family courts, it is obviously all still now anonymous, but she was

able to sit in a family court, he had his case and then report it and thenit had his case and then report it and then it is the basis of those reports that everybody is saying, this is obviously wrong, we need to change the law. bud this is obviously wrong, we need to change the lava— change the law. and does the law needs to be _ change the law. and does the law needs to be strengthened - change the law. and does the law| needs to be strengthened further, change the law. and does the law i needs to be strengthened further, in your opinion?— your opinion? well, i think the government _ your opinion? well, i think the government want _ your opinion? well, i think the government want to _ your opinion? well, i think the government want to start - your opinion? well, i think the government want to start with j government want to start with dealing with just those who have committed the most, be very serious sexual offences against children, which is the rape of a child of 13 or under. but clearly, the intention from the government is to expand it, onceit from the government is to expand it, once it has been introduced. but i think the most important thing is that the principle has been established that actually, what should be a priority is the protection of the child, not the rights of the father. and parental responsibility is a privilege. it is not a right. and actually, if you commit a serious sexual offence, that you should forfeit that right as a father. that you should forfeit that right as a father-— that you should forfeit that right as a father. . . ., ., ~ as a father. harriet harman, thank ou ve as a father. harriet harman, thank you very much _ as a father. harriet harman, thank you very much for _

as a father. harriet harman, thank you very much for your— as a father. harriet harman, thank you very much for your time. - the kremlin have said that russian peacekeepers will be withdrawn from nagorno—kara bakh. the landlocked mountainous region was the subject of a long—standing territorial dispute between azerbaijan, in which it lies, and its ethnic armenian majority, backed by neighbouring armenia. kremlin spokesman, dmitry peskov, confirmed the move when responding to a question about reports of kremlin spokesman, dmitry peskov, confirmed the move when responding to a question about reports of a withdrawal in azerbaijani media. azerbaijan forcibly retook nagorno—karabakh last september in a move which triggered the mass exodus of ethnic armenians living there. with more on this our russia news editor, famil ismailov. why the withdrawal of these russian troops, why now? why the withdrawal of these russian troops. why now?— troops, why now? well, this is the time when — troops, why now? well, this is the time when russia _ troops, why now? well, this is the time when russia needs _ troops, why now? well, this is the time when russia needs more - troops, why now? well, this is the - time when russia needs more manpower and more resources to be used in the war in ukraine. and azerbaijan has taken over the lands in 2020 in the

44 day war with armenia and since then the russian peacekeepers were sort of standing there, standing by and guarding or defending the armenian residents of nagorno—karabakh. but the 2022 war has changed everything. the russian aggression in ukraine has changed everything. and also it has changed the balance of power in the region. in september 2020 —— track september 2023, azerbaijan launched a lightning operation to take over, with disregard of existing agreements or standing by russian peacekeepers, took over nagorno—karabakh and controlled good nagorno—karabakh, which, as you mentioned, ended with the exodus of more than 100,000 armenians from nagorno—karabakh to armenia. find nagorno-karabakh to armenia. and 'ust for nagorno-karabakh to armenia. and just for me. — nagorno—karabakh to armenia. and just for me, what next then for this area with such a computed history? absolutely. unfortunately, this is the end of a chapter, but it is not

the end of a chapter, but it is not the end of a chapter, but it is not the end of a conflict. azerbaijan and armenia do not have a peace agreement, they still have non—delimitation of the borders. they need to make sure that they know where their bodies lie. the loss of small enclaves on both sides of the border, which is porous, and every now and again we see clashes on the border, we see shootings, we see belligerent statements on both sides and frankly, i don't see how long this can go on for while russia is engaged elsewhere.— long this can go on for while russia is engaged elsewhere. thank you very much, is engaged elsewhere. thank you very much. famil— is engaged elsewhere. thank you very much, famil ismailov. _ haiti's government has named the nine members of the new transitional council that is due to take over power and organise elections. it will oversee the transition from the current prime minister, ariel henry. he promised to step down a month ago, after haiti's powerful gang leaders blocked his return to the country from an international trip. haiti has not had an elected president since 2021 — when the head of state,

jovenel moise, was assassinated. the city shopping centre which was at the scene of saturday's stabbing attack, will be open to shoppers on friday. six people died in the attack on westfield bondi junction. two people remain in intensive care. the centre will open on thursday for a community reflection day, allowing members of the public to come, walk through and pay their respects. some of the victims' families have already visited the centre where their loved ones were killed. you are watching bbc news. good evening. sunshine for some, but not for all. that has been the story today, and when the shower clouds came they were pretty threatening. quite a dramatic weather picture here sent in from north wales. most of the showers have been out to the west first thing this morning with these frontal systems sinking steadily south. through this evening we have a clutch of showers just clinging on to east anglia and south—east england. they fade away, skies clear, temperatures are

likely to fall away and gardeners and growers, take note, we could see a touch of light frost in sheltered western areas with low single figures. further north and west, we keep around [i or 5 degrees and that's because we have cloud and rain spilling in from another system, which will bring some wet weather as we go through the day. in the afternoon, perhaps the best of the sunshine in east anglia, the midlands and southern england, clouding over through north wales, north midlands, up into northern england, to close to the scottish borders, where there will be outbreaks of rain. the rain not too bad in northern ireland, but it will stay fairly persistent on and off through the north—west of scotland throughout the afternoon. the rain obviously having a little impact on the feel of the weather once again, only highs of 8 to 12 degrees, but we might see 15 celsius in the south—east with the best of the sunshine.

there will be some rain for all of us at some point through thursday night into the early hours of friday morning and then the high pressure really trying to influence its story. however, because of the position of the high, we still pick up this northerly wind, so we will be chasing cloud amounts around, a breezy day on friday and that will have an impact on the feel of the weather once again. temperatures just below par, really, for the time of year. into the start of the weekend, the high pressure is continuing to nudge its way a little bit further north and east. this weather front could enhance some showery rain for a time across eastern scotland and maybe north—east england. it also, again, depends on the direction of the wind. because of the position of the high, we are continuing to drag in the wind from the north—east, so coming from scandinavia, a cooler source, and so that means that along the north sea coasts, yes, at times those temperatures struggling and there will be a few scattered showers. so west is best for not only sunshine, but also warmth this weekend.

live from london, this is bbc news. the uk's foreign secretary lord cameron has urged israel to do as little as possible to escalate tensions in the middle east, but benjamin netanyahu has said israel will decide on its own steps. we hope that anything israel does is as limited and as targeted and as smart as possible. it's in no—one's interest that we see escalation. translation: we will make our own decisions on our own. _

and the state of israel will do what it needs to defend itself. the actor hugh grant settles a long—running lawsuit —— says he has been offered a enormous amount of money as he settles a long—running lawsuit against the publisher of the sun newspaper over claims journalist used private investigators to tap his phone. mps have rejected all of the changes made to the rwanda bill by the house of lords. the bill is now being sent back to the house of lords. a russian missile kills 1a and wounds more than 60 in chernihiv in northern ukraine. inflation in the uk has fallen to its lowest level for two and a half years as some food prices drop.

hello,